Garment attachment



Jan. 5, 1932.

F. W. HOBART GARMENT ATTACHMENT Filed Feb. 2, 1931 Patented Jan. 5, 1932 FRANK W. HoBAR'r, or cnnrgsngmnsseonsnrrs GABMENT ATT-Acrkrvinnr Application led February 2, Y19131.. p VSerial No. 512,8761.

This invention relates to means for holding the looped strip material of garment attach-A ments in any condition of effective length, and has particular reference to garment or hose supporters, garters, armlets, Suspenders and the like.

Articles of the character referred to usually include straps or strips of flexible material, each having a loop portion the length of 1 which is to be varied to meet the requirements of the individual wearer, a take-up attachment being included in the article to' enable the length of the loop to be adjusted.

Anobjection to the employment of take-up 1,, attachments having toothed strap-gripping members is that the teeth thereof cause undue wear and mutilation of the strap .that is engaged thereby. And an objection to that type of article which employs take-up attachments g, having strap-engaging members that are straight so as to clamp the strap without forcing any portion of it into the strap, is that careless handling, especially if the article is dropped on the door, frequently results in 2 ,3 such opening or parting of the gripping members that the desired adjustment of the loop is no longer maintained. And an objection to that type of article which employs a single flat plate having two slots each of which must 3c accommodate two thicknesses of the strap orv strip, is that adjustment of the length of the loop is a rather tedious operation.

The object of my invention is to provide garment articles of the character referred to, having easily operated strap-gripping members which, although straight and -toothless from end to end, will'reliably remain in gripping relationship A even when carelessly handled, but can beeasily opened when necessary to effect an adjustment.

With said objects in view, the invention consists in the construction and combination of parts substantially as hereinafter described and claimed. v Of the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a front view of my improvedv take-up attachment in one of its positions to maintain a portion of a flexible strip inthe form of a loop. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same.

' ng'iof.llajwaj;Bugwhen it is desired to Figure Sis a front elevation of the take-up device alone.:- i i l Figures'll and 5 are sectional views illus trating the closed and opened positionsfire-V spectively ofthe aws of the take-up' device. 55 Similar reference lcharacters designate similar parts or features-in all of the views. The :illustrated strip 12` ofwflexible material may be a portion of an ordinary'leg-surrounding:-garterband, or" av similar looped ortion of 4any Yother garment attachment. The take-up device for the loop, which device will, for the sakeaof brevity, behereinafter referred to as theclasp, comprises two members of suitablermetal. ,One member` 13is 65 slotted to provide across bar 14 to which one end of the strip 12is connected andis formed with anedge .15 which constitutes one ofthe. strip-gripping jaws. Said edge of jawY -15- issmoothfrom end to end7 or, in other words, 70 has 'no.teeth. The side margins `of the meni-` ber 13areben't to provide eyes 16.1:4

' .The .other member 17 of the device isv slotted to .provide a cross barlamounted in' the eyes 16 of themember v13", and is formed ,75" with an edge or jaw 19 whichis also smoothV from'end to end to coact with the jaw 15 in gripping the strip 12. u L 1 .The'important featureof vmy invention re-r sides'in the member-17 having a knob or pro- 80'V jecton'QO in such positiony that, when the op posing` jaws 15, 19, are gripping the strip (see Fig. 4): said knob exerts pressure tohold a small areazof the strip bent' partly around the edge of the jaw 15. ln other words, the' 8,5' construction is such that, when the-member 17* is frocked relatively'to'the member 13', the inner surface ofthe knob 20 slightly passes the :edge vvofthejaw 15 at "adistancetherel'l from less than the thickness of V.the strip so. that, when-the members are shifted from thel position villustrated by Fig.. '5' to the :position illustratedby Fig: 4, the'knob 20 temporarily.

Vcompresses "a small area of the strip and snapsov'erthe jawl to aposition where it 95 remainsdueto the presence of :a'rsmall area'.1 of the strip between said knob and j aw. This'` locked positionfof the ,two members A.is sufficiently reliable to prevent accidentalpenlfopen the jaws, as when the length of the loop of the strip 12 is to be adjusted, the same knob 20 facilitates such opening by engaging ones linger or linger nail with it and pressing it down below the jaw 15 to the position illustrated by Fig. 5. When the parts are in the last-mentioned position, it is very easy to slide the strip 12 lengthwise so as to vary the length of its looped portion andy then a simple closing operation returns the jaws to strip-gripping positions. vWhen vthe device is in use, the stronger the pull is on the strip 12, the more irmly the jaws 15, 19 maintain their gripping relation on the strip.

This is due to the fact that the pull tends to force the knob 20 rmly to the position where it bears on the strip and presses the latter on to the outer surface of the jaw 15. Y

By Athe hereinbefore reference to jaws being ismooth-edged, I mean that the jaws have no suchteeth as would tend to unduly injure the flexible strip.

Having now described my invention, I claim 1. A buckle comprising two pivotally connected frame members, eachframe member having a passage to receive a strip of flexible' material, a jaw on each member arranged to coactwith the other jaw to grip such strip, said passages being arranged at opposite ends of the buckle when such strip is gripped thereby,and locking means on onev frame member positioned to snap over the outer edge of the jaw of the other member and a portion of the strip engaged by said edge to hold the jawsin strip-gripping relationship.

2. A buckle comprising two pivotally connected frame members, 'each frame member having a passage to receive a strip of flexible material, a straight-edged jaw on each mem-v ber arranged to coact with the other jaw to grip such strip, said passages being arranged at opposite ends of the buckle when such strip is gripped` thereby, and locking means projecting from the straight-edge j aw of one frame member positioned to snap over the Y outer edge of the aw of the other member and a portion of the strip engaged by said edgeto hold the jaws in strip-grippingre lationship. V Y

3.v A'buckle for gripping a strip of flexible material, said buckle comprising two members one of which is slotted and has a straight smooth-edged jaw with eyes at the ends of said jaw, the other member of the elaspbeing pivotally mounted in said eyes and hav ing a straight smooth-edged jaw close to the jaw of the first-mentioned member and having a knob a portion of which is positioned to snap over and-lockingly receive the otherf jaw and a portion of the strip between said' jaws.

signature.

In testimony whereof I have` aixed my FRANKY w. Homer.v 

